Larger enterprises often employ fairly complex print shop architectures to address their various printing needs. For example, members of an organization may use local printers for simple desktop publishing (e.g., letters, memorandums, pictures, etc.). However, when the organization requires more sophisticated and/or larger volume printing, the organization may employ a print shop architecture comprising a number of higher-end printers (e.g., multifunction printers, production printing systems, etc.) that are able to provide more functionality and/or volume printing capabilities.
These print shop architectures are typically managed by a print server that receives print jobs from a plurality of clients via host system devices (e.g., networked computer systems, mobile devices, etc.). Print jobs are then assigned to print queues associated with specific printers. A print operator may manage a large number of print jobs as they are processed by the print shop. For example, dozens or even hundreds of print jobs may be in a print queue awaiting their turn at a printer. Often, the print operator may want to know the status of the print jobs as they make their way through the print queue. For example, the print operator may want to know when a specific print job in the print queue will be printed, or if some jobs are expected to take longer to print than other jobs in order to handle a specific job differently. A print operator may know that the specific job in the queue has handling requirements that are different than other print jobs in the queue, and therefore, may want more information about when the print job will start printing in order to make preparations. Typically, print jobs in the queue are represented as a list of jobs, which provides little or no information to allow the print operator to identify when a print job may start printing or how long a print job may take to print after it starts.